As I sit at my desk, watching the rain come down, I am trying to work out why it is that in the past month I’ve not done one stitch of sewing. I tell myself it is because I’ve recently found a love of knitting; I currently have 4 scarves on the go, and another two planned for when I have a spare pair of needles. If I’m honest though, that’s not the truth.
Yes, I have refound a love of knitting, but the truth of the matter is that I’ve got a few sewing projects on the go, and I’m not sure how to tackle any of them. If you’re only reading this blog for the finished items, then this is a spoiler alert for you – cut ahead to the next post please 🙂
Currently on the go, I have a dress for my daughter – this sounds straightforward enough, but the bodice lining (that I was using as a bit of a toile) is a bit too small, and scaling up the pattern is just a bit too scary. If it were a case of lengthening or shortening the pattern then I would be fine, but I think the bodice needs to be made bigger in the circumference, and I also think the neckline is a bit too high. I don’t think it should be too hard to modify, but boy, is it scaring me!
I have another dress on the go for my daughter that’s being made will be made out of scraps from an unworn and unfinished A-line skirt. This material was due to be thrown away, so there’s no pressure on me from the super-special material side of things, but there’s a limited amount of material, and I’m worried there might not be enough. And, yes, I do know that this problem is only going to get worse as she grows, so I should just stop being silly and make it!
I also have a swimming costume on the go – I will cover this in more detail in a later (finished object) post, but suffice it to say, I am struggling to get the double needle stitching to go smoothly on my machine. On every (bar one) attempt I have made in some scrap fabric and elastic, the thread in the left hand needle has missed stitches – I have tried altering the tension (both looser and tighter), changing the stitch speed, the stitch width, and the thread in the needle, but every time, it ends up looking scruffy. As such, I’m very wary of progressing with the final stage of the make – it’s really frustrating and taunting me from the corner.
In addition, I have a wedding to go to in a month. At Christmas, I was given some beautiful fabric, that I’ve had in my mind as a shift dress for that wedding ever since. The trouble is that I need to do a full bust adjustment if I’m going to get the shift-dress right. I tried a FBA a while back (I’ll post about it soon) and suffice to say, I’m not looking forward to a rematch. This therefore, has moved my shift dress on to the too scary pile!
So, in conclusion, I have four projects that I want to do, but all are scaring me – it’s just far too easy to retreat to the easy world of repeating a simple knitting pattern. it’s also not helped by the fact that I can’t really see my desk because of all the unfinished projects. The sewing slump that I find myself in is all down to fear of making something imperfect, and that’s not a good reason to stop doing something I love, so for now, I sign off, glass of rosé in hand, and a box of chocolates at my side. Eat, drink and be merry; for tomorrow I sew.
